Rolled or forged metal chair for railroads



(No Model.)

' A. J. MOXHAM.

' ROLLEDOR FORGED'METAIPGH'AIR"FOR'RAILRDADS.

AA. I

Patent d May '5 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR J. MOXHAM, OF JOHNSTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROLLED OR FORGED METAL Cl-lAlR FOR RAILROADS.

SPECIFICATION foIming part of Letters Patent No. 316,995, dated May 5,1885.

Application filedJanuary 19, 1885. (No model.)

T 0 all'w hom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. Moment, of J ohnstown, in the county ofCambria and Stateof Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Rolledor Forged Metal Rail-Chair for Railroad-Rails, which invention orimprovement is fully set forth and illustrated in the followingspecificationand accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a chair of varying heightsand wide base, of little comparative weight, and easy construction,strong, durable, and cheap.

The invention consists of the chair of the form and construction ashereinafter particularly described; and set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an endelevation of the chairand rail in track. Fig. 2 is a plan of the chairshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3is aperspective view of a rail and chair in track.

In said figures the several parts are respectively indicated by lettersas follows:

A A indicate the extreme upper joints of a girder-rail embedded in thestreet-paving indicated by F F, the lower flanges of the rail beingindicated by the letters a a.

The letters B B indicate the vertical sides of the chair when given therequired depth to raise the rail flush or nearly flush with thestreet-surface. I

h The letters b 12 indicate the lugs of the chairs diagonally located orstaggered? D D indicate the angle-feet or flanges of the chairs, and d dthe holes through the same, by which the chairs are secured to thecross-ties T T of the track by means of spikes or bolts d d. The holes dd, (preferably square instead of round,) it will be observed, arelikewise staggered. Danger of splitting the'timber cross-ties in drivingthe bolts d d through said holes is thus obviated. The lugs b b are thusformed. Lips. are first formed by cutting through or parting the metalin two lines at right angles, as seen at c c, Fig. 2. Said lips are thenforced out into a die, and so shaped therein as to fit the two edges ofthe flanges of the rail with which it is to be used. In thus formingsaid lugs it will be observed that they are punched out without anyloss, or, in fact, any displacement of metal. The lugs are thus made ofuniform thickness throughout and of the same thickness as that of therest of the bar or platesay five sixteenths of an inch minimum toseven-sixteenths maximum. The special advantage of this feature will behereinafter set forth.

The advantage of using a chair having a flat flange or level surfacewhere secured to the cross-ties arises from the fact that when rails arespiked directly to the ties without any such chair said rails tend tospread, because the lower flanges of the rails as well as the underparts of the heads of the spikes are beveled. Said bevels comingtogether cause a thrust sidewise, which thrust is exerted by the spikesupon the timber, causing it in time to yield so much that the spikesbecoming loose thetrack spreads. The chairs, however, if introduced, actas a gage plate or bar and prevent the yielding or spreading action justmentioned. For the above reasons wider bases are desirable; but as itwould not be profitable nor easy to roll such rails with continuousflanges of the necessary width, the use of chairs, and particularly ofwide chairs, becomes all the more important and is more and moredemanded.

The numerous desiderata which the chairs forming the subject of thisinvention are designed to fulfill and the way that such demands areaccomplished by them will now be set forth.

First. Experience has shown that it is very difficult, if notimpossible, to obtain any one positive measurement or shape of lug tofit the flanges of the rails to be used, the reason being that saidflanges are seldom, if ever, exactly similar. Difference in thecomposition of the steels used and in the heats at which the rails arerolled, and many other contingencies of manufacture, all preventabsolute uniformity of section orshape of the flanges of the rails. Thelugs or lips of ordinary chairs are therefore generally made of fullsize-that is, to fit the largest flanges-and hence slip loosely over thesmaller or lighter flanges. If the chair be of cast-iron, its lugs ofcourse cannot be reset or adjusted.

If 10o made of wrought-iron, however, of the form the lugs of suchchairs may be set down to more or less closely flt the smaller orlighter flanges of the rails used; but with such chairs as usuallyconstructed a good fit cannot be made between lug and flange, for suchlugs are made thickest at the point 0*, Fig. l, and thinnest at thepoint 0; hence the point 0,yielding first, clamps the flange a and thepoint 0" retains its position of non-fit. If, as is shown in thedrawings, the weakest point of the lug be at o as will be the case ifthelap or lug be made of uniform thickness throughout, then in the act ofsetting the lug down and over the flange a the point 0 will come to agood bearing first upon the flange and the rest of the lug next tofollow to a similarly close fit, effecting thus a uniformly close fitbetween all of the lip or lug and the flange of the rail.

Second. Chairs are required to be furnished in large quantities and ofvarying heights or depths. In such case, if made of cast-iron, muchexpense is entailed, for to make them rapidly a very large number ofpatterns must be made of each variety or shape of chair; but if made offorged or rolled metal, as herein described, every chair, though of adifferent height, may be made from a flat plate by simply bending suchplate into the box form of greater of less height of vertical side asmay be required. This work can all be done with great rapidityin anordinary droppress,and as the particular changes of form require butslight bends in. the metal, preserving easy angles and involving'nodisplacement of metal said work can also all be done at a low heat. (Itwill of course be understood by the word displacement, as herein used,that it is meant that the thickening of metal at one part or parts ismade at the expense of other parts.)

The great waste of metal due to oxidation at higher temperatures is thussaved, and as it is possible to form the lips or lugs in the last passof a set of rolls the rest of the shaping can be .so quickly done thatthe chair can be finished complete by utilizing the heat at which itleaves the rolls, the bar or ingot being thus subjected but to a singleheating operation, ending in a finished chair.

Third. This plate or box-chair, (shown in the drawings,) while of anysuit-able height, is,

usual] for reasons above given, made of uniform thickness throughout,and it is of importance that the points N, Fig. 1, should be in lineVertically with the points A A of the head of the rail, as shown in saidfigure. Unless this be the case the paving blocks or sets cannot evenlymeet said points and afford the desired solidity of side support. Noribs or side braces are used with or necessary to the vertical sides BB, as would be the case with castiron chairs. Such ribs or braces havebeen found very objectionable in interfering with the close and compactfit of the paving material. It is quite manifest therefore that numerousadvantages arise from making a forged or rolled chair of uniformthickness through out in all its parts, and with no displacement ofmetal in shaping into form.

In addition to the above-mentioned advantages belonging to thisinvention, may be also mentioned the following: facility of laying thepaving material or blocks to make a close contact with the chairs,rails, and track; superior strength and durability, lightness beingconsidered when subjected to blows, cast-iron chairs of much heavierconstruction being liable to injury or fracture by blows fromsledge-hammers when the track is being laid, when, as is often the casein driving the spikes, the chair is accidentally struck.

The chair, when made with vertical sides having a hollow interior or boxform, assists in still further solidifying the structure by itsadditional bonding with the street-bed, the material of which flows intoand fills up this hollow interior.

I am aware that plate-iron chairs having diagonally-disposed lugs arenot per se new, and such I do not claim; but,

Having thus fully described my improved chairs as of my invention, Iclaim As a new article of manufacture, a wrought or rolled metalbox-chair for railroad-rails formed of a single plate, shaped asdescribed, and provided with two lugs diagonally placed for securing thebottom flanges of the rails, substantially as and for the purposes setforth.

A. J. MOXHAM. \Vitnesses JAMES A. HAMILTON, NV. J. MURPHY.

